WOYWW - 855

 Good morning, crafty friends!

I did get 'round to a few of you from last week. I am home now. Hopefully, no more traveling until April 2026 when I hide to do the final edits on this book. I'm ready so ready to send it out into the world and start on Book 3 in the series.

I won't be around today as my dear husband, Bob, turns 65! Today is all about him.

The desk is quite boring this week. You can see the remnants of my #31daysofhalloween tags for Tim Holtz Tuesday. I posted today's and I have next Tuesday's done/ filmed and ready to post next week.  If you want to see them, they are all posted on my IG channel - KellysCreativeDreams. All that's left is the kindle and note pad from a book review post on my author blog and the note pad for my cauldron blog schedule.  Tomorrow, I'll clear all the Tim Holtz paper & ephemera away then start the rest of the tags. Only 10 tags left to create! November will be a bit slower. 

I did take the Halloween Curio Class with Tim & Heidi at Simon Says Stamps. I even got a comment from Tim on my IG post. I was thrilled. Here's what I made:

I enjoyed the 4-hour class and learned some things. I can't wait to get out some of the other cloches & things I purchased over the years and make more dimensional items. 

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’s Craft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

CATCHING UP! - Part 2 - #31daysofhalloween

 Good morning, crafty friends!

I'm quickly learning some things need to change as I get older. I spent Sunday hanging laundry. I have a slight incline from my porch to the clothes line.  I'm always cautious of my bad knee but yesterday morning I woke up with what felt like shin splints on my left leg. I took meds and crawled back into bed by 10:30. The rest of the day went quickly with little accomplished.

It's Tuesday morning about 5:30 a.m.  I've been awake since 2:30. Let's hope I can at least get through my mid-day meeting.

Today, we have Days 17-21. Remember, you will find all the details for each tag in its own video on my YouTube Channel . There is a #31DaysofHalloween Playlist on the channel.  Just seems like weekly posts here work best.

Day 17 - Fabric Friday

Day 18 - SACs Saturday

Day 19 - Spooky Sunday

Day 20 - Mixed Media Monday

Day 21 - Tim Holtz Tuesday

I'll see you tomorrow for another edition of WOYWW. 

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

CATCHING UP! #31daysofhalloween - Day 7-16

 HI crafty friends!

By the time you see this post I will be home!!! No big traveling again until April. I'm so ready. More time for crafting and writing.

I recorded nine videos for the #31daysohalloween tags on Wednesday before my trip. What a difference seven days can make. I'm relaxing a the hotel before packing up and heading home.

I left off with Day 6 last week. So today is Day 7-15. I'll get today (day16) caught up this weekend. Remember, they are also available on my IG channel. Just search #31daysofhalloween or my account, KellysCreativeDreams and you'll see them - all numbered. You'e also going to get a sneak peak of Day 15 & Day 16 that did not get recorded before I left. For now, let's catch you up:

Day 7 - Tim Holtz Tuesday

Day 8 - Whatever I Want Wednesday

Napkin play

Day 9 - Thrifty Thursday

Coffee filter background, images cut from two different coffee huggies

and a strip from a coffee bean print in a magazine.

Day 10 - Fabric Friday

Images from the Halloween Memories Stampin' Up! pack 

(I think LOL)

Day 11 - SACs Saturday.

Items purchased from

Spectrum Art Creatios.com

Day 12 - Spooky Sunday

paper and tombstone from Halloween Memories, ghosts from 9-18 Paper Pumpkin

Nature's Wonder 6x6 paper pad (Stampin Up) and moon punched from Stampin' UP! cardstock

Day 13 - Mixed Media Monday

Background using Tim Holtz distress sprays,

stencil from Studio Light and creme paste from Stamperia.

Spider web doily from Stampin' Up! (retired) and an Etsy digital.

Day 14 - Tim Holtz Tuesday

I revisited the stacked pocket from is Christmas class to put this together. 

Day 15 - Whatever I Want Wednesday

I just pulled stuff from my stash. 

Background - Paper Pumpkin Envelope

Image card I can't remember. 

Day 16 - Fabric Friday

That's it for me. I have to be doing catch-up things the next couple of days but I hope to be back in here on Saturday to get us moving forward.

Remember - except for Day 15 && 16, you'll find videos on my YOUTUBE channel.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

WOYWW #854

 Good morning, crafty friends!

I should be able to get 'round to everyone before next week. I'm still not home rom the writer's conference and a visit with my sister.

Here's my desk this morning:

After the conference closed on Saturday night, I headed to  my sister's on Sunday for a short visit. Now I'm at the hotel getting a bit of work done before heading home this afternoon.

For those of of you who asked about the tags. I finished the tag ring on my crafting retreat last month. Here's the video flip-through of that and the pocket letter page I did for the collection:

I will be doing a follow-up post tomorrow catching up with the tags. I had them done (filming 9 videos last Wednesday!) so I could get them posted on IG and scheduled the videos to post while I was away. If you're interested in those, please pop back tomorrow or that post or you can see them on my IG. Look for the #31daysohalloween hashtag.

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

 

MAKE-UP MONDAY

 Hi everyone!

Last week was just nuts! When I got home I found out Bob had been streaming MeTV on our dish network and took me down to about 17% of my data. I was getting up before daylight to upload the tag video but then had to shut the internet down to get me through until the data reloaded Saturday night at midnight.

I'm back to full capacity and playing make-up. So photo-heavy. Are you ready?

You saw the Day 1 tag of the #31DaysofHalloween tags. Here are Days 2 - 6 to catch you up:

Day 2 - Thrifty Thursday

Day 3 - Fabric Friday

Day 4 - SACs Saturday

Day 5 - Spooky Sunday

Today's Tag:

Day 6 - Mixed Media Monday

I'll be making tags ahead over the next couple of days and scheduling the blog posts. I'm off to the Ozark Creative Writers Conference in Eureka Springs Arkansas on Thursday and won't be home until late Sunday. I've made room this week to get the tags made up/ video'd and scheduled ahead of time.

What are you playing with? Are you inspired to get out your supplies and make some tags? I'd love to see what you're  making. Tag me on instagram! @kellyscreativedreams

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

WOYWW #852

 Good morning, crafty friends!

Coming in late this morning. I got home Monday afternoon, spent yesterday with Bob with the exception of making a short video. Bob left this morning for 5-6 days to visit friends in IL and IA so I'm on a mad cleaning spree.

I had a great time on the crafting retreat. There were four of us including the hostess. One of our group drove up for just one day to play with friends. She needed the day.

Then I spent five days at the hotel working on my book. Only a few new words but I have an order going forward. I'm hoping for a Mid-May 2026 release. Positive vibes appreciated. ;-)

Question: Do you clean better when you are the only one in the house? 

Here's my desk:

The item in the top left, in front of the tool caddy, is an iPad holder with a magnet sheet for catching all of my dies when I'm working on a project. No more losing them on the desk!

Here's the tag you can't see very well:

I'm doing 31 Days of Halloween here, on my YouTube channel and on my IG account. Crazy, right?!

The background is washi tape and the item in the center is part of a thrifted treat box.

I have a theme schedule for every day of the week. Tomorrow is 'Thrifty Thursday'. Whether I'm using items I've thrifted or 'thrifting' from my stash. I have a full list of the Daily themes in the description box of each of the videos. Here is the video for Day 1:

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

WOYWW #850

 Good morning, crafty friends!

I apologize for not getting round last week. Seemed I couldn't be in one place long enough.

Here's my desk this week:

Slightly staged to show you what I'll be working on today. I'm in the process of trying to finish up the Ciao Bella Sound of Autumn tag ring by Saturday. I've found some Stampin' Up! sets that coordinate with fall and some of the patterns in the paper, like pine cones and leaves. I'm adding in making dangles of coffee cups, pumpkin spice sayings, etc.  As you can see center stage are the 31 tags in varying sizes matted and ready to embellish. I also have some things from the collection fussy cut out and Stampin' Up! cardstock colors to punch out hole reinforcers. I decided to use hole reinforcers instead of eyelets because the latter take up too much space for this many tags. I'm not sure my 3" ring could hold them all... not sure it will now. LOL

I leave Sunday for a combined retreat. I'll spend four days in KS with my crafty gathering group then five days in a hotel finishing pulling Book 2 in my series together. I'd love to release it in February 2026.

There may or may not be a desk from me next week but I hope to get 'round to everyone.

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

TAG TUESDAY - Cioa Bella - Sound of Autumn - Part 3

 Good morning, crafty friends!

No actual picture of the desk this morning showing everything I played with yesterday for the video. Getting through the video was enough as I dealt with a migraine. But, I do have a video. 

In the video you'll see me mention that I couldn't find my Merry Cafe stamp set so I could make some dangles that said Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice. I found it. I just looking in the right box of stamps. Because it said "Merry Cafe" I kept going back through Christmas until I remembered it also had fall and other seasons. So, when I looked in Mixed Seasons - there it was. LOL I might just move it to Coffee Cafe with the die set so I'll always find it. Coffee, is a FOOD GROUP after all. 

Here's today's video:

Since I'm in an autumnal season for everything, I've been featuring autumn-themed reads on my author channel. Today I'll be reading Golden Days In Autumnville to post a review tomorrow. You're welcome to stop by - The Writers Zone

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MONDAY MAKES - Ciao Bella - Sound of Autumn - Part 2

Good morning, crafty friends!

I started this tag collection using the Sound of Autumn collection from Ciao Bella last Saturday for my SAC's Saturday video aka Spectrum Art Creations.

Here's a video from Ciao Bella of the collection:

I bought the 6x6 and the 12x12 from Spectrum Art Creations but hadn't used the collection until now. Since there were a lot of tags printed in the 12x12, I decided to make a tag collection ring.

I am backing them with heavy vanilla cardstock from Hobby Lobby so the tags on the ring will have some body. This also allows me to write autumn quotes or gratitudisms (yep, I just made that word up).

I'll be back tomorrow for #TagTueday to show you the progress. In the mean time, here is today's video:

I'll have pictures of tags to share tomorrow.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

WOYWW 849

 Good morning, crafty friends.

I'm sliding in late this morning. Needed to get laundry on the line then take pics of what I've been working on. No desk this week.

I purchased doll houses from $Tree about 3 or 4 years ago to make 'haunted houses' found in THIS video on Youtube.

This week, with cool/ dry temps I was able to pull out the container and start spray painting.

The three taller ones are two of those smaller houses built upon one another. That small one in the back with the bay window roof... you take the roof off that one, remove the roof from the smaller one in front then attach the bay roof to the top of that one. 

I really don't have room in this house to put out my entire Christmas Village so last year I decided to give them their own places throughout the house. I placed all my North Pole village pieces on the top shelf in the laundry room. This year, for October, I'll put the haunted houses. Alternating the 2 story houses with the 2 smaller houses.  I'll fill in the gaps with figures and these...

These are white bottle brush trees from the dollar store. I'm giving them two coats of Espresso Brown spray paint to give them that dead pine look.  I plan to put orange, purple and green lights inside the houses. thought about putting the small strobe lights from $ Tree but I'd have to climb up every night to turn them on as opposed to just plugging in string lights. 

I'll post pictures when I'm finished.. probably the first week in October.

hat's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

#TAGTUEDAY - Harvest Meadow and Oh Nuts!

 Good morning, crafty friends!

I've been awake since 3:30 so I'm apologizing in advance for any mistakes. LOL

I did get a card made this morning. I really wanted to play with the Oh Nuts! stamp set from MayMayMadeIt. I picked up the set on a day trip haul last week.

PURCHASE LINK

Here's the tag I came up with on the fly very early this morning.:

I used the brown bare tree paper for the background then randomly stamped the small acorns from the set. I stamped them in Chocolate Chip then colored the tops with the Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker.

I stamped the squirrel with Early Espresso on Soft Suede cardstock.

the star hole reinforcer is from when I was testing which reinforcer to use on the December Daily album.

Silly me, braiding a golden rod colored bakers twine but I wanted a little pop of color. 

That's my tag for this week. I hope you'll pop back tomorrow for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MONDAY MAKES - A Little Different

 Good morning, crafty friends!

No card today as I spent all day yesterday reorganizing my paint unit.

I've been using this cabinet as my paint storage since putting the studio together about 11 years ago.

The cabinet was originally one of the wooden stamp displays at Michaels when I worked there. We were down here working on the house when they did a store revamp. One of the other teachers secured the three units for each of us (the 3 musketeers). 

I removed all the shelves from the bottom half (below that wider cross -support) and set a 2-drawer filing cabinet in there. That helped stabilize the unit as it does have a solid open wood base.

So, yesterday I stripped everything off the unit, decided how I wanted to display everything for easy access and repositioned the glass shelves. At some point, I'll take stuff off the shelves one at a time and give the glass a good cleaning. Yesterday was just about getting stuff organized.

Shelf to Shelf/ top to bottom:

Sparkle Mediums from Imagination Crafts

Gilding Polish from Creative Expressions

Mixed Media Pastes/ Butters

Crackle Paste/ Mediums/ Misc. alcohol inks

Alcohol Inks/ SU paintable inks/ puffy paints and glass quill

Homemade Paint Sprays

Remaining four shelves of Acrylic paints 

Below the support bar, sitting on top of the filing cabinet I have my Lindy's Magicals and supplies to make Lindy's inks and watercolor pallets.

Curious as to the filing cabinet drawers:

They old painting supplies, spray paints, etc. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another fall tag using the Oh Nuts! stamp set by MayMayMadeIt that I picked up on a haul last Thursday. If you want to see that haul video, click HERE.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly 

WOYWW 848

 Good morning, crafty friends!

First off, Happy Retirement to our leader, Sarah. Be prepared to be busier than you were when you were working. ;-)

Now for my quiet desk:

Stamp sets from the tag I made for #Tagtuesday, the ribbons I chose from and the newly cleaned scissors. 

Seems we've been on the go a lot lately. I'm looking forward to being home for at least a couple of days.

One day a week I take a ME day. I go into town and sit at my favorite coffee shop - usually with my planners. But I made the decision this week to only take one thing - a book.

I read one book a week to spotlight the author and review their book on my author channel. I decided I'm taking an older book with me instead of my planners. Not one I need to review but one I want to read. I have a 5-shelf book case in my bedroom of books to be read. When I've finished the book, I put half the cover price (NOT the price I paid - which was usually .10 - .25 each) into my book journal envelope. I figure by the time I've read all 360 books, I should have quite a nest egg. 

What about you? Are you a reader? What do you like to read.

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

#TAGTUEDAY - Harvest Meadow

 Good morning, crafty friends!

I'm kicking off the month of September with our first Fall tag.

I have chosen the Harvest Meadow paper pack from Stampin' Up! This was part of their Holiday 2021 release.  You can check out the video of how this tag came together HERE.

I'm short on time this morning because things took me longer yesterday than I'd planned. Seems that happens a lot the older I get.

I used three stamp sets with this tag. The stitches are from a set I purchased from Spectrum Art Creations' Etsy store a couple of years ago. I use the set a lot and may have to pick up one of their other stitch sets. You'll find that set HERE.  There are two other sets in their Etsy Store. HERE and HERE

I also used a set from Tracy Easson called Angels Of Love and Timeless Textures (retired) from Stampin' Up! You can see the set HERE on Ebay.

That's our first Fall Tag for 2025. I hope to have a flip through of the reconstructed December Daily album on Friday. 

Are you ready for fall?

Creative Blessings!

 ~Kelly

DECEMBER DAILY with Festive Frolic - Album is DONE!

 Well, almost. LOL

Good morning, crafty friends!

I've spent six weeks finishing this December Daily album. This will be the first holiday season Bob will be home for the entire event. I hope to throw in some daily fun activities, places to visit, that kind of thing to truly complete an album from Dec. 1 - 31.

I say 'almost', because I want to put something on the cover yet. Something with dimension. I'm thinking creating something dimensional with a picture of our tree so that will have to come later.

Next...

This is the inside front cover and front page. I've been contemplating cutting another Santa out to create a chip board on that cover page.

Then the oops:

While setting the pages up to turn, part of the bottom ring broke. Which means... I'll be cutting the album apart and making it into a office ring album. But that's okay. I can add yarns, fibers, ribbons on the rings. I have until Thursday to figure it out. Why? 

Because Friday Premiere's are returning with Friday Flip-Throughs. So stay tuned. In the mean time, the video is available on my channel today. Just CLICK HERE. 

Creative Blessings!

 ~ Kelly

TAG TUESDAY! - Part 2

Good morning!

As soon as the video for today's tag is live on YouTube, I'll add the link to the bottom of this post.

For some reason I've been on a tag in a tag theme. I used the Gilded Autumn paper pack from Stampin' Up! As I started fussy cutting the acorns I remembered something...

3-punch set sold at the same time as the paper release

The punches made this tag decor so much easier. LOL  The ribbons were also from Stampin' Up!

tag backs

I'll be back tomorrow for WOYWW.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MERRY CHRISTMAS! - First Christmas Card of 2025

 Good morning, crafty friends!

Are you ready? Do you realize that Christmas is four months from today? Yikes!

This is the first Christmas card of the many I have to get made before November 15th. 

I used a Memories & More card pack from Stampin' Up! called Santa Express. I bought a couple of packs because they also include a sticker sheet that this could easily be turned in to a December Daily. I also have more than one of the paper packs, too.

So, are you thinking about Christmas? Might want to. If nothing else, thoughts of snow and the holiday season might cool you off.

Creative Christmas Blessings!

~ Kelly

WOYWW 846

 Good morning, crafty friends!

I have to be out and about today so took this picture last night and set the post so I could link up this morning before I forgot.

The tag is part one of my Tag Tuesday. I ran it yesterday on my youtube channel. Will have the finishing in part two next Tuesday.

I used papers from Gilded Autumn (Stampin' Up! 2021)

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

CRAFTY HAUL - Ollie's & Dollar Tree

 Good morning, crafty friends!

No project today, but I did want to share a short haul video.

Have you been seeing the activity around Ollie's bargain outlet stores? Apparently, they've purchased pallets of paper crafting items from both JoAnns and American Crafts closing inventory. Crafters, I am talking pennies on the dollar!

Products do vary from store to store. Where people on the East coast have been pulling in really great product (like a Minc machine for $5!!!!), mine has had mostly paper. You can see my haul in today's video. If you have an Ollie's near you, and you feel the need for more stuff at bargain prices, I recommend checking them out.

Just call me your friendly enabler. ;-)

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly 

 

WOYWW 845

 Good morning, crafty friends!

QUICK NOTE:  The tag I'd hoped to have done today will definitely be tomorrow. The book I needed to review took longer than I'd anticipated, so no crafting yesterday.

I'm sliding in the door late. Got up to a dead battery on my phone. 

I have two desks to share this week.

First, my actual crafting desk:

Not overly exciting. The pile on the far left needs to go back to the office desk and those post its get entered into my planner. The awl... guess who used then didn't put back (Bob), the iron I used to press some ribbon and my detail scissors. The white holder in the back is full of little stuff I need to put away. Easy peasy clean up for crafting this afternoon.

Office desk:

I finally got the large work island cleared so I could set it up as my permanent office space (unless I need to cut large pieces of fabric). My computer, external keyboard, a clean mouse pad, the planner holder for my BIG Happy Planners and my mini kanban board for my current To Do projects.

I've been trying for months to get this worktable to this point. I have one small sorting box I need to clear out, find better places to put the keeper items then get rid of it. This will allow me to move the work stuff to the far right of the table. Or, set my mini kanban board to my right. But at least the desk is clean and functional. yay!!!

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.

 Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

TAG TUESDAY - Moving to Tomorrow

 Hi crafty friends

I was working furiously in the office yesterday and ran into a snag that took the rest of the afternoon to un tangle. 

I'll be creating the tags for the post and will run them tomorrow with the WOYWW post.

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

DECEMBER DAILY - Trying to finish this one!

 Good morning, friends.

I don't have pictures to show today because they just show better in the video:

I've been working with the Festive Frolic digital kit from Shabbydabbydoodah aka Tina.  She hasn't had the kit in her Etsy shop for awhile but if you message her on Etsy, she might be able to help you out. 

I started this journal last year. I managed to get the outside cover done and cut out the tags I wanted to use for the numbers. That's as far as I got on the project. 

Part of #ChristmasinJuly was to finish up Christmas project kits I'd started or had stacked on the sofa to do. 

As you'll hear in the video, December Daily has been an issue for me in the past because Bob was never home for the entire month of December or sometimes part of the month but not for Christmas. We'd celebrate in January after he got home. 

Now that he's retired, I hope to plan December activities we can do together. We like to go out and explore but not a fan of crowds. In Illinois we used to go to Felipe's light festival in East Peoria and spend a Saturday with friends at a White Elephant exchange. I still have a cherished piece Bob got the last one we were able to be there for. We don't have any of those things here but I hope to find us something to do.

I'm going to try to finish this up and have a flip through next Monday. I came close yesterday but ran out of ink for the printer to do the inside covers. 

I'll be back tomorrow when I'm starting back in on my 100 Days of Tags. I'll explain why I fell of that cliff in tomorrow's post.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly